Looking Into A Triage Nurse And Telephone Answering Service?
What is a triage nurse and how does this relate to a doctor answering service? Let's first consider what a triage nurse does. A telephone triage nurse provides nursing assistance by telephone. Patients may have health questions that cannot be immediately analyzed by a doctor. The patient may consider him or herself to be in a state of an emergency. Therefore, it would be the triage nurse's responsibility to assess a client's health concerns based on the data provided.
Obviously, the triage nurse wouldn't have the capacity to do a visual inspection or face-to-face interaction. Rather, the nurse telephone triage personnel would have to provide sound medical advice without actually advocating any radical move only a doctor would be qualified to suggest. Triage nurses would use their communication skills, their knowledge of various diseases, and knowledge of normal growth and development in human beings in order to ascertain the medical problem. These nurses must also have very good listening skills.
What is the difference between nurse telephone triage personnel and an ordinary health advice hotline? Health hotlines usually provide general answers and are more community based. The triage nurse is specifically hired to assess a patient's condition and then provide suggestions over the phone. The nurse may also be needed to schedule appointments for doctors or respond to emergency calls.
Obviously, because of the job duties involved, triage nurses and other medical call center workers must be trained and educated for their job. Most telecommuting nurses and emergency responders have HIPAA training, which stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. HIPAA training involves teaching workers proper procedures including handling confidential matters and following protocol in emergency procedures. Triage nurses may also have to be registered nurses in order to provide any sort of medical evaluation.
Many doctors have found that a doctor answering service (and one that offers HIPAA training for pharmacy or medical reasons) is very advantageous. A medical answering service can provide personal attention to patients who are very concerned about possible health conditions. Answering services can also allow for better hours beyond the 9-5 standard that most clinics keep. Imagine being able to provide quick assistance to your patience on the weekends, on holidays and at any time of day or night! This is ideally everything a doctor should want to be, concerned with his or her patients' welfare and always accessible.
For more assistance with a doctor answering service and triage nurse options, visit MedConnectUSA.com.
About the Author:MedConnectUSA is a leading provider of medical answering services and telemessaging services. MedConnectUSA has been serving the health care industry since 1991. MedConnectUSA handles routine and emergency calls for the medical industry only and all calls are answered by HIPAA trained, US operators.
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